Saturday mornings are my only chance to sleep in but with the constant stream of Jos sounds I could only make it until about 7:45. Oh well, it is still waking up later than usual! With all the extra time this morning I was able to do some cleaning, wash my hair, and start a new book. I also proved that I should have gone to beauty school and cut a few inches off of Biana’s hair (at her request!). It is a nice break from anything structured.
Goddy came and picked up Adrie, Jon, and myself right after lunch to take us to Miangu where I was asked to speak. Dr. Chris and his three children came along as well as Pam, an older nurse from New Mexico who is working here for a few weeks. It was a bumpy car ride but offered me more breathtaking views of the area around Jos. I learned that the area we were heading to was formed by volcanic activity so there were boulders everywhere! My favorite thing had to be all the orange and yellow wildflowers that were growing in abundance along the hills and around the mud huts, though.
After an hour of driving we came to a gated retreat center where currently some high-achieving university students from around Jos were having a weekend together. We were escorted to a large fellowship hall where about fifty students were waiting. I was told not to be nervous about speaking, so I tried my best not to be. Dr. Chris had been the planned speaker but everyone seemed excited that an American their age was leading Your Work In Ministry instead. It was a very interactive hour revolving around how people are called to serve God in whatever capacity He puts them in. We looked at Jesus’ disciples, serving God in different jobs, and took the time to reflect on how we need to view our own jobs as a way of following Christ’s example. It wasn’t incredibly churchy, it wasn’t even very scholarly, but it was a wonderful time of dialogue and laughter. I felt good about how it went and was very encouraged by the number of people who stopped me afterwards to say hello, tell me about themselves, and think through some of their struggles in their work.
We stayed in Miangu for a while more and entertained ourselves by running around with the Isichei children and eating guava that Goddy was beating down from a tree with a giant stick. It was nice to feel grass between my toes after days of walking along trash-lined dirt roads. The ride home was a little more difficult since the kids, especially Prince, were overly hyper and wanted everyone’s full attention. Jon ended up doing math problems with Emily (age 7) while Adrie played with Joey (age 3) and Prince taught me some new songs (age 5). We were exhausted when we got back to Jos just before dinner. Biana and I took a quick lap around the neighborhood before sitting together for a meal of coos-coos and beef. We called it a day earlier than usual and watched a bit of Arabic satellite television where Grumpier Old Men was on with weird subtitles. It was a long day, but a very good one, and we are all hoping to be able to get up refreshed and ready to go tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment